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WORLD CUP USA ’94 / QUARTERFINALS : Spotlight : WHAT’S THE SECRET?

By BILL PLASCHKE
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As expected, German forward Rudi Voeller announced after the game that he was retiring from the team.

A bit more surprising was the announcement from goalkeeper Bodo Illgner that he was also retiring.

An angry German Coach Vogts expected Illgner to keep the news a secret for now.

“He told me in the cabin (locker room) that he was retiring, but he was only going to tell me and not announce it,” Vogts said. “Then I come out of the cabin and he has told the media. That tells me something about somebody’s character.”

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Bill Plaschke

Bill Plaschke, an L.A. Times sports columnist since 1996, is a member of the National Sports Media Hall of Fame and California Sports Hall of Fame. He has been named national Sports Columnist of the Year nine times by the Associated Press, and twice by the Society of Professional Journalists and National Headliner Awards. He is the author of six books, including a collection of his columns entitled “Plaschke: Good Sports, Spoilsports, Foul Balls and Oddballs.” Plaschke is also a panelist on the popular ESPN daily talk show, “Around the Horn.” He is in the national Big Brothers/Big Sisters Alumni Hall of Fame and has been named Man of the Year by the Los Angeles Big Brothers/Big Sisters as well as receiving a Pursuit of Justice Award from the California Women’s Law Center. Plaschke has appeared in a movie (“Ali”), a dramatic HBO series (“Luck”) and, in a crowning cultural moment he still does not quite understand, his name can be found in a rap song “Females Welcome” by Asher Roth.

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